The other day, a letter to the editor opined about the closing of the VNA. In the early 1970’s, the VNA was started by the hard work of Bette Gladstone. The organization had its birth with one doctor, one nurse, one aide, one physical therapist and one nun. The nurse was Carolyn Brown RN, the nun was Sister Louise, the PT was Pierre LaMatre. The place was the basement of Hotel Dieu. Next to the Boiler Room. The board was an unruly group of 20 who wanted answers. The Physician who was the Medical director also served a Chairman of the Board.
Luck would have it after one year, a patient of the Physician and Board Chairman died and left their house on Virginia Street to the VNA. A new home. Strangely enough, all the patient referred were those of the Directors and Dr.Gladstone. Later the other docs in town started to refer. Business flourished. From the beginning we were non profit organization Not “no Profit”. Over tbe years 30 new competitors entered the market.
The original Medical director after many years was asked to serve on the Medical advisory board. What a change. Over the years we continued to be “not for profit” and “no profit”. Hard to work a business that the staff feels its a charitable organization.
Let’s bring in a a man who knows how to save a losers. Wardy? He found a sick business whose competition are Cherry-picking clients leaving the remainder for the “not for profit” or “no profit”. The inevitable occurred. Collapse.
Watching the evolution of the VNA over the years, the end was a given. Unless subsidized, these non-profits can’t compete, Wardy or not.
I watched this happen since I was there, as the First Medical Director, Chairman of the Board in the the beginning and on the Advisory Board at the end.
elpasospeak
City of El Paso debt=$2,670,400,000, county and school district debt=$1,600,000,000. Total $4.27 billion. Your share $19,350
elpasospeak 
I too served on the board and put patients in VNA and part of the problem was the social worker drove people away.i resigned from board and sent people to Hospice of ELP dealing with VNA was stressful
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This is a bit oversimplified putting the competition as the cause of the “inevitable” demise. Yes the beginning was humble and those responsible for that and for its growth did a wonderful job. At some point VNA stopped competing, stopped innovating, stopped adapting to the changing economy and failed to remake itself and stay viable and thriving to continue meeting the needs of a community that it once knew and served so intimately, but gradually lost that connection and caring…not by the direct providers but by managers who “coasted” and took the easy-money road for too long until it was too late. I believe the CEO and the board of directors could have done a lot better starting back in the good years that they thought would last forever.
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It takes hard work to compete, to face one’s shortcomings and do something about them, and to keep up with changing times; it doesn’t take much work to ride high on one’s past laurels and let a gentle, powerful, helpful giant bleed to a slow death.
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As much as I respect what VNA tried to do, I think there were internal problems too. My experience was with the private pay side when I supervised the care of an elderly relative. I was told we could contact someone at any time with questions or necessary changes to the caregiver’s schedule. No one ever answered the phone when I called. I left messages and seldom got a call back. This was inexcusable for private pay. No insurance was involved and we paid every bill on time.
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I need to add that I discussed these problems with the person responsible and with the supervisor. Nothing changed. This was several years ago, long before Wardy came on board. I’m mentioning this because, although I know there are external factors that made VNA’s situation difficult, I experienced unaddressed management problems.
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